K.C. Johnson

ColumnistChicago TribuneWriter

An Evanston native, K.C. Johnson joined the Tribune in 1990 after playing Division III basketball at Beloit (Wis.) College and covering high school sports and minor league baseball for the Beloit Daily News. He covered the Bulls' second three-peat from 1996-98 for the Tribune’s website. After two seasons covering the Blackhawks and NHL, Johnson has been back on the Bulls full-time since 2000, save for a one-season assignment on the Bears in 2005. In between arenas, Johnson enjoys attending live music.

Recent Articles

Shaquille Harrison had just received an outlet pass from Robin Lopez and prepared to dribble quickly upcourt when Jim Boylen, bouncing along the sideline near Harrison, started screaming. “Slow! Slow! Slow!” Contrast this scene with the enduring image from Fred Hoiberg’s tenure, the one of Hoiberg...

Wendell Carter Jr. has a life coach. His agency set him up with one shortly after the Bulls drafted him in June with the seventh overall pick. Carter talks to him by phone about anything that’s on his mind. “It can be on-the-court stuff, off-the-court stuff. Maybe the NBA lifestyle, everything...

The Bulls are now 2-5 under Jim Boylen after Monday’s 121-96 loss to the Thunder. They’ve been competitive in four games, suffered a franchise-record 56-point loss to the Celtics, got outscored by 30 points in the second half by the Kings and committed 23 turnovers in a sloppy but feisty effort...

Following his first game as coach, Jim Boylen challenged his team’s toughness. On Monday night, Kris Dunn responded to Russell Westbrook’s shove with a shove of his own, which led to Jerami Grant joining the scrum and Robin Lopez taking exception to Grant’s tactics. Shortly after Boylen wrapped...

It’s been a rough week for Jabari Parker. Last Thursday, Jim Boylen informed the team’s second-leading scorer and rebounder that he’d be out of the rotation and judged by his practice habits and defensive effort moving forward. On Friday, the Bulls and Parker’s camp discussed working amicably to...

In his first three games back from missing just shy of seven weeks with a right knee injury, Bobby Portis has averaged 11 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 41.9 percent in 20 minutes per game. Besides the shooting percentage, those aren’t bad numbers. They also aren’t numbers Portis likes....

Jim Boylen’s dad played football at Michigan State and before Boylen accepted a basketball scholarship at Maine, he played the sport too. Kris Dunn has a football background. Bobby Portis said the sport was his first love until a growth spurt prompted his switch. Ryan Arcidiacono’s dad was an offensive...

When the buzzer sounded and the Bulls had concluded their rally from 21 points down for an improbable 98-93 victory, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich wrapped Jim Boylen in a hug and offered what looked like some demonstrative encouragement. Boylen didn’t want to elaborate on the moment. Popovich did....